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serafaerydooooooooooooooooood.
I just took a belly dance class. With Rachel Brice.
Rachel Brice is arguably the best fusion bellydancer in the world.
She opened a studio here in Portland back in... 2011? Where I trained in American Tribal Style bellydance with Colette, but Rachel was not teaching beginners back then.
I quit bellydance classes long before pandemic. It's been at least ten years since I've taken a class?
To get to study with Rachel at all is a once in a lifetime experience, and she's teaching a whole series!
Just signed up for the rest of it.
I'm so lucky!
I've been wanting to get back into bellydancing but none of the available classes/teachers felt right to me.
I had no idea she was teaching at all, I just happened to find out through Alessandra today whilst catching up and sparkling her. There were drop-in slots (???) and I was able to get in. Shocking. I think people just didn't know/expect this to happen. I certainly didn't!
Class was *really* hard. I forgot most everything. But at least my body vaguely remembers the arm motions, pivots, and body wave. It's in there somewhere, though I get my feet and hips all mixed up.
YAY.
It works with my schedule perfectly! Tuesday nights! She is even away the same week that I am in February so I won't even miss that week because she's away, too!
I get the feeling we are about the same age. It's sweet, her origin story is falling in love after seeing a group perform at a Renaissance Faire at age 16. This is also precisely how I fell in love with tribal style bellydance, although I did not seek out any classes until much, much later (was still too busy figure skating, back then).
Life can be soooooooooooooooo magical.
...
Therapy was wonderful this morning. I am making massive strides, we are seeing a sudden leap of improvement after much diligent hard work and I am so grateful. I am not falling into deep dark pits, I am pulling myself out of sad swings with my own tools and strength, I am gaining strength and stability enough to perform basic adult tasks without such a struggle, I still have a loooooong way to go - don't we all - but things are so much better.
My foot feels fine. Beginner classes are relatively gentle and bellydance is so low-impact, it's why I began dancing this style in the first place, back then I was still in excessive chronic pain after recovering from hip surgery and couldn't to much more than wiggle flat-footed. It is *hard*, intricate wiggling though! Not easy at all. Exhausting and challenging and humbling and so so fun. The music! The music is so great. I missed it desperately.
I am so happy!
I just took a belly dance class. With Rachel Brice.
Rachel Brice is arguably the best fusion bellydancer in the world.
She opened a studio here in Portland back in... 2011? Where I trained in American Tribal Style bellydance with Colette, but Rachel was not teaching beginners back then.
I quit bellydance classes long before pandemic. It's been at least ten years since I've taken a class?
To get to study with Rachel at all is a once in a lifetime experience, and she's teaching a whole series!
Just signed up for the rest of it.
I'm so lucky!
I've been wanting to get back into bellydancing but none of the available classes/teachers felt right to me.
I had no idea she was teaching at all, I just happened to find out through Alessandra today whilst catching up and sparkling her. There were drop-in slots (???) and I was able to get in. Shocking. I think people just didn't know/expect this to happen. I certainly didn't!
Class was *really* hard. I forgot most everything. But at least my body vaguely remembers the arm motions, pivots, and body wave. It's in there somewhere, though I get my feet and hips all mixed up.
YAY.
It works with my schedule perfectly! Tuesday nights! She is even away the same week that I am in February so I won't even miss that week because she's away, too!
I get the feeling we are about the same age. It's sweet, her origin story is falling in love after seeing a group perform at a Renaissance Faire at age 16. This is also precisely how I fell in love with tribal style bellydance, although I did not seek out any classes until much, much later (was still too busy figure skating, back then).
Life can be soooooooooooooooo magical.
...
Therapy was wonderful this morning. I am making massive strides, we are seeing a sudden leap of improvement after much diligent hard work and I am so grateful. I am not falling into deep dark pits, I am pulling myself out of sad swings with my own tools and strength, I am gaining strength and stability enough to perform basic adult tasks without such a struggle, I still have a loooooong way to go - don't we all - but things are so much better.
My foot feels fine. Beginner classes are relatively gentle and bellydance is so low-impact, it's why I began dancing this style in the first place, back then I was still in excessive chronic pain after recovering from hip surgery and couldn't to much more than wiggle flat-footed. It is *hard*, intricate wiggling though! Not easy at all. Exhausting and challenging and humbling and so so fun. The music! The music is so great. I missed it desperately.
I am so happy!
